Libya's government had said "revolutionaries" from a security agency known as the Anti-Crime Committee took Zidan early this morning from the Tripoli hotel where he lives.

Two of his guards also were taken, but were beaten and soon released.A security official at Zidan's hotel says the gunmen showed hotel management an arrest warrant they claimed had been issued by the public prosecutor.

The prosecutor's office says no such warrant was ever issued.An official with the Anti-Crime Committee claimed Zidan was "arrested" on accusations of harming state security and corruption.

Militants have accused the Libyan government of allowing and possibly even taking part in last weekend's capture of a Libyan al-Qaida suspect by U.S. forces. Abu Anas al-Libi is accused of taking part in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa.